tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post7566532110957977774..comments2014-04-18T09:47:55.100-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Open Friday: Creating D&D Player CharactersJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-60781163575549298052011-09-29T23:07:09.368-04:002011-09-29T23:07:09.368-04:00Roll 3d6 6 times, in order. Rinse, repeat, write d...Roll 3d6 6 times, in order. Rinse, repeat, write down next to them. Pick best of the two rolls for each of the ordered stats. Then, if you want, you get 1 reroll on any stat.<br /><br />Seems generous, but ultimately forcing players to play a conception they don&#39;t like is pointless because they&#39;ll get him killed or just not enjoy the experience. Not everyone enjoys that challenge. <br /><br />Another thing I don&#39;t do is audit XP, GP, or anything like that. If players want to cheat each other, it is their game they are gutting. Since I play with people with 2-3 decades at the game table, this tends to work fine.Lux Mentishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16188286486649909678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-30634982899397891842011-09-20T12:01:42.000-04:002011-09-20T12:01:42.000-04:00I really like the idea of antagonists/hirelings fo...I really like the idea of antagonists/hirelings for stabled/rejected characters.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-21329318225554847862011-09-20T11:31:35.213-04:002011-09-20T11:31:35.213-04:00Declare race and class then 3d6 in order. Rolepla...Declare race and class then 3d6 in order. Roleplay opportunities and motivations galore.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-57707631918465864602011-09-17T21:59:56.377-04:002011-09-17T21:59:56.377-04:00&quot;I balance the game by taking all of the play...<b><i>&quot;I balance the game by taking all of the player&#39;s rejected charaters. These will become NPC Antagonists, who will go after the PC throughout the campaign, and do their best to kill that player character. The better and more carefully selected the PC, the harder s/he will have to fight to stay alive.&quot;</i></b><br /><br />That&#39;s brilliant! I&#39;m going to start doing that too!Ed Dovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14398295844409607075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-82384750084347068642011-09-17T20:57:48.058-04:002011-09-17T20:57:48.058-04:00I use a different system. Players can play any cha...I use a different system. Players can play any character class they choose (to improve the game texture). I have trabsposed the probabilities from the 3d6 bell curve onto percentile dice, and have anumber of tables, where you roll percentile dice to get results 13-18, 14-18, 15-18 etc. Player rolls 3d6 against each ability. When s/he is satisfied with the chardcater stats (they can re-roll as many times as they like, but all six stats). When they are ready, and if by then a certain prime requisite (such as Paladin&#39;t Charisma) is not met, they roll percentile dice to get them into that class. I balance the game by taking all of the players rejected charaters. These will become NPC Antagonists, who will go aftre the PC throughout the campaign, and do their best to kill that palyer character. The better and more carefully selected PC, the harder s/he will have to fight to stay alive.<br /><br />A word of explanation. I run a sandbox without any signposts or railroading. I accomplish this by embedding he character into the back story. Simply put, the player writes a brief bio describing who the character is and how charadter came to be. I re-write the bio and effectively write the character into the story. Of course, all characters must be affliated with guilds, warrior houses, knights and temples in order to grow in level. Time spent adventuring represents only a small part of the PC&#39;s time, the rest of their lives, PC&#39;s are invlved with whatever guilds and retinues they belong to. More powerful NPC&#39;s, whom the Player Characters serve and who ultimately train them, can send players on various errands, missions and quests on behalf of the organisations they serve. The whole campaign is predicated on chaacters exploring and discovering the campaign world and taking parts and influencing certain events unfolding with or without the player involvement. Players success or failure will be judged at the end of the campaign based on whether they will be able to save the world in which the campaign is set from the doom that awaits it. No boss monsters. No linearity, and errands handed down by the guild will not put the players on the trail of the main quest.Brooser Bearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08487438364129415650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45959207152510460362011-09-17T12:44:29.362-04:002011-09-17T12:44:29.362-04:003d6 in order for 6 characters (drop 2 raise 1 allo...3d6 in order for 6 characters (drop 2 raise 1 allowed for purposes of xp bonus only). The other 5 are hirelings/henchmen npcs, that may turn into the PC if the primary one bites the dust. <br /><br />Imagine a god forming 6 PC&#39;s from clay...substitute &quot;dice&quot; for &quot;clay&quot;. &quot;Play &#39;em how the gods made &#39;em.&quot;UWS guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01277557128674527225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-49045420371184993672011-09-17T04:46:12.548-04:002011-09-17T04:46:12.548-04:00H-Town said...
I want to the see the random start...<i>H-Town said...<br /><br />I want to the see the random starting hat table!</i><br /><br />I use JB&#39;s chart, available here: http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/08/bx-headgear-new-charts-to-gear-up-your.html<br /><br />It&#39;s the first page in my DM binder. Not only is it fun in itself, but it takes some of the sting out of PC mortality. &quot;Bah. My elf is dead. Now I have to roll up a new character... But I also get to roll for a new hat! Huzzah!&quot;ClawCarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236809815213343281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-76280267442829688182011-09-17T04:04:36.833-04:002011-09-17T04:04:36.833-04:00I take much the same approach as you, James, excep...I take much the same approach as you, James, except I look for extremes in scores, as I find it more interesting to play a character with such differences.kelvingreenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-17014411283283135702011-09-17T01:31:17.726-04:002011-09-17T01:31:17.726-04:00Great thread.
Sir Yobgod Ababua the Handless re:
...Great thread.<br /><br />Sir Yobgod Ababua the Handless re:<br />&quot;For more modern systems, I&#39;m now a fierce advocate for the &#39;deck&#39; method: (18 cards varying from 1 to 6 that add up to the desired average, minus two, plus an extra &#39;2&#39; that the player can add to any stat after the fact).&quot;<br /><br />I like this. So, using a 3.5 average, I would shuffle three aces, 2&#39;s, 3&#39;s, 4&#39;s and 5&#39;s with four 4&#39;s and two 6&#39;s, deal them into six piles and add 2 points to one. Is this correct? Thanks for any help.SeymourGlasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15189870536143688676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-79044255256241121002011-09-17T01:14:13.361-04:002011-09-17T01:14:13.361-04:00I (not so) recently had a moment where I had been ...I (not so) recently had a moment where I had been the DM for some time and got the chance to finally play in a Lamentations game run by PCB. All the people who usually play were ready with names, but I wasn&#39;t, and being first to the left of the DM I was first to announce mine... err... &quot;Geoff!&quot; No surname, no titles, just Geoff. Geoff the M-U. Still had a great game though! It&#39;s nice to be on the other side.deathanddrekhttp://deathanddrek.pip.verisignlabs.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-74348591492284378532011-09-17T00:21:42.447-04:002011-09-17T00:21:42.447-04:00If I am the player, then i do as the DM allows for...If I am the player, then i do as the DM allows for his or her campaign. But if I had my druthers I would use the Elite Array from the 3rd Ed. DM&#39;s Guide. <br /><br />15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, put &#39;em where you want &#39;em. This way every character starts out with the same potential. <br /><br />I have run games where we used 4d6-drop the lowest and had a guy get three 18&#39;s and nothing below a 12. Another player in the same campaign got a high stat of 13 and most of them below 10. I know some of you are thinking &quot;too bad, he rolled what he rolled&quot;, but the lucky player consistently rolled well (he used the same dice as everyone else) and he tore through my monsters while the rest of the party were fairly ineffective, the low-roller being all but useless. Luckily the RP was still good and it helped make the game interesting, but I&#39;d rather have the players have characters that they can get into. The game provides enough random elements to kill a player.By The Swordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16799389743529116360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-25405995026044907892011-09-16T22:42:45.925-04:002011-09-16T22:42:45.925-04:00Len Lakofka once wrote an excellent article on sta...Len Lakofka once wrote an excellent article on starting AD&amp;D campaigns in his &quot;Leomund&#39;s Tiny Hut&quot; column. He advocated a system that rolled 4d6, dropping the lowest. Seven rolls were generated (the player decided which roll to drop: It didn&#39;t have to be the lowest) and two stats could be swapped. This system gave enough choice that the player could build a wide variety of characters but it didn&#39;t give enough latitude to encourage optimization.Jameshttp://openid.aol.com/escutcheonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14611823514164560662011-09-16T22:09:11.230-04:002011-09-16T22:09:11.230-04:00I do 3d6 in order and let folks follow the 2 for 1...I do 3d6 in order and let folks follow the 2 for 1 rule in b/x. Then I generally encourage folks to come up with a one or two word description for the character. For your cleric for example is he a evangelical crusader, idealistic pilgrim, simple minded preacher. I think I got the idea from dyson a while ago with the descriptions it keeps all fighters from being the same.<br /><br />I want to the see the random starting hat table!H-Townhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01532013157464037691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-71889968143538011742011-09-16T21:45:56.754-04:002011-09-16T21:45:56.754-04:00&quot;...it is all too easy to imagine STR and CON...<b><i>&quot;...it is all too easy to imagine STR and CON being more than 5 points apart. Slow, heavy labor and the wrong food can make you strong but fat, unable to run for long distances and prone to illness. I&#39;ve met several truck drivers who could lift well over 200 pounds, but who weighed well over that as well. People can also be healthy except for a chronic illness such as asthma or hemophilia. It isn&#39;t that hard to explain.&quot;</i>--amp108</b><br /><br />Thanks for the critique.<br /><br />I thought about things like those (and lots of other things) while I was working out the character generation system I use now. And things like the examples you gave are certainly true for post-industrial settings with:<br /><br />1) Lots of occupations in which people can get away with physically exerting themselves only momentarily at most.<br /><br />2) An abundance of cheap food, so it&#39;s easy to get fat enough to develop health problems.<br /><br />3) Modern medicine that keeps people with chronic illnesses alive beyond childhood.<br /><br />So, my character generation system for post-industrial settings would link Constitution &amp; Strength by only 1d6 -- allowing them to differ by up to 10 points.<br /><br />But none of that is true for pre-industrial settings. In those:<br /><br />1) Occupations in which people can get away with physically exerting themselves only momentarily at most are extremely rare.<br /><br />2) Food is scarce &amp; expensive, so it&#39;s extremely difficult to get fat enough to develop health problems.<br /><br />3) People with chronic illnesses very rarely live beyond childhood.<br /><br />So, in pre-industrial settings, it&#39;s extremely unlikely that any adult will be either very healthy but very weak or very strong but very unhealthy. And I think it&#39;s probably even less likely than randomly rolling Constitution &amp; Strength more than 5 points different from each other is. That&#39;s why my character generation system for pre-industrial settings links Constitution &amp; Strength by 2d6 -- allowing them to differ by only 5 points.<br /><br />Does that make sense to you now or do you still see problems with it?Ed Dovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14398295844409607075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68139175851105338662011-09-16T21:41:32.951-04:002011-09-16T21:41:32.951-04:004d6 drop the lowest, assign where you want4d6 drop the lowest, assign where you wantfrothsofhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04663928183049867947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-3754255634206802722011-09-16T21:15:37.821-04:002011-09-16T21:15:37.821-04:00I just like to roll 3d6 straight down the column a...I just like to roll 3d6 straight down the column and figure out what would be the most appropriate type of character they are depending on the stats. So if my fighter&#39;s best stat is a str of 7, so be it. It&#39;s all the more reason why he would of learned how to use a short sword then a two handed one.ironhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04345074915911014741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-50507905749049029622011-09-16T20:14:39.465-04:002011-09-16T20:14:39.465-04:00For my current &quot;Stonehell on the Borderlands&...For my current &quot;Stonehell on the Borderlands&quot; game using modified B/X, I make the players roll 3d6 in order, then they may swap any two of the first four stats. There are only three players, and their characters die fairly often. If one of them wants to play a fighter, I&#39;m not going to make him play a crap fighter.<br /><br />By far the most important and highly anticipated stage of chargen, though, is rolling random hats.ClawCarverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07236809815213343281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-17122744300708744042011-09-16T19:22:37.819-04:002011-09-16T19:22:37.819-04:00Gremlin just ate my post...
Anyway:
&quot;Str 1...Gremlin just ate my post...<br /><br />Anyway: <br /><br />&quot;Str 12, Int 9, Wis 13, Dex 12, Con 14, Cha 10&quot; - James<br />I would have gone with Dwarf (back when Dwarf was a class and a Race at the same time) simply because this guy has just enough wisdom to give a Saving throw bonus vs magic.<br /><br />As a Cleric he isnt awesome. Though his wisdom is above average he is not some wise Guru whose self meditations will reveal some great insight, and his health is better than his brains. His Charisma says he is not leadership material - at least for the church - but he might be a Friar Tuck.<br />For me Stats are Personality: In the church hierarchy with above average health and Wisdom He is trapped in the ranks of the Church Enforcement Division. &#39;The Inquisition is In&#39; with this guy. His favourite phrase is going to be &quot;Tell it to the High Priest!&quot;yellowdingohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07343984729318655540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-37565491099181230592011-09-16T18:25:56.200-04:002011-09-16T18:25:56.200-04:00Depends on the game; if I&#39;m playing with folks...Depends on the game; if I&#39;m playing with folks who want equal points, I copped this method from someone:<br /><br />Roll 3d6, re-roll any below 9. Assign that stat. Assign the next stat at 27 - previous.<br /><br />Then roll 3d6, re-roll any below 7. Assign that stat. Assign next stat at 25 - previous.<br /><br />Then roll 3d6, re-roll any below 5. Assign that stat. Final stat is 23 - previous.<br /><br />@Ed Dove: it is all too easy to imagine STR and CON being more than 5 points apart. Slow, heavy labor and the wrong food can make you strong but fat, unable to run for long distances and prone to illness. I&#39;ve met several truck drivers who could lift well over 200 pounds, but who weighed well over that as well. People can also be healthy except for a chronic illness such as asthma or hemophilia. It isn&#39;t that hard to explain.amp108http://www.blogger.com/profile/06730954482557756380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-49027241153970261232011-09-16T17:07:43.617-04:002011-09-16T17:07:43.617-04:00However the GM says I should. Which is probably 4d...However the GM says I should. Which is probably 4d6, drop the low die, put the stats where you want them.<br /><br />I agree with you about the value of emergent personality and letting your character&#39;s self emerge as time passes. For me, though, &quot;as time passes&quot; is usually less than 15 minutes. By then my character has a name, some kind of personality, some sense of history, and maybe even a personal goal or two. They just kinda show up as I&#39;m filling out the character sheet.Uncle Matthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02372568503602699725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-9940593576460911112011-09-16T16:55:48.955-04:002011-09-16T16:55:48.955-04:00Currently, I went back to what I did in the 80&#39...Currently, I went back to what I did in the 80&#39;s : 3d6 in order, then pick class and/or race (i mix both class-as-race and split class/race without problems). I used B/X blackrazor table on &quot;how do they know each other method&quot; to create links between starting characters - and it generaly provides a background, alternatively using some others random tables for the same background purpose.Nicolas Dessauxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03010015806129652185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-48427044922894557012011-09-16T16:30:24.941-04:002011-09-16T16:30:24.941-04:00So, my question for today is this: how do you go a...<i>So, my question for today is this: how do you go about creating a new, 1st-level D&amp;D character?</i><br /><br />From a player perspective, exactly like you do. i.e., whatever the rules allow for randomness and just that amount of detail as to PC identity going in.<br /><br />As DM, I do allow players to pick 2 ability scores and swap them. So the process (esp. for brand-new players) appears as in the LBB order: pick class first, then roll abilities (and make one swap as desired).Deltahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26876940437042512692011-09-16T16:08:31.313-04:002011-09-16T16:08:31.313-04:00I roll 12d6. Then, with the sort of character I wa...I roll 12d6. Then, with the sort of character I want to play in mind, I arrange the dice like this:<br /><br />1) Apply 1d6 to all of the attributes affected by a character&#39;s physicality: Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity &amp; Strength. (This eliminates the possibility that any of those attributes will be more than 10 points different from each other -- which is hard to rationalize.)<br /><br />2) Apply 1d6 to all of the attributes affected by a character&#39;s mentality: Charisma, Intelligence &amp; Wisdom. (This eliminates the possibility that any of those attributes will be more than 10 points different from each other -- which is hard to rationalize.)<br /><br />3) Apply 1d6 to Constitution &amp; Strength. (This eliminates the possibility that Constitution &amp; Strength will be more than 5 points different from each other -- which is hard to rationalize.)<br /><br />4) Apply the rest of the dice to bring each attribute up to 3d6 -- 1d6 to Charisma, 1d6 to Constitution, 2d6 to Dexterity, 2d6 to Intelligence, 1d6 to Strength, and 2d6 to Wisdom.<br /><br />Then it&#39;s hit points, starting money, equipment and, possibly, spells.<br /><br />Done!Ed Dovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14398295844409607075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63047683823528451272011-09-16T15:46:24.294-04:002011-09-16T15:46:24.294-04:00James - Just out of curiosity, is your new game on...<i>James - Just out of curiosity, is your new game on Google+?</i><br /><br>No, this is a character for a face to face game with a diminished version of my regular gaming group.James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87043735351647012542011-09-16T15:46:09.323-04:002011-09-16T15:46:09.323-04:00I usually like to have some idea of the game I&#39...I usually like to have some idea of the game I&#39;m playing in (no point in making a super diplomatic character in a hack and slash game) and some idea of what everyone else is going to play (I don&#39;t want to be the 3rd dwarf or second fighter unless there is a good reason.)<br /><br />Plus as a group we should try and have all the bases covered. <br /><br />Then I look through the classes and races, trying to find something that really sparks my interest. The other day I made a new character to save for future use. I decided I wanted to be a monk because I had just remembered how much I used to like Dragonball Z. Then I decided on Halfling, both because they make good monks and I haven&#39;t gotten to play one in forever.<br /><br />Then I made all the technical choices- pointy buy ability scores, skills, feats, powers, gear, etc. I let those choices fill in the character details in my mind. He was going to be talkative and friendly but not very persuasive (8 Charisma), his master was going to be Fat Aloysius the renowned traveling monk and amazing chef (Falling Needle powers), he was going to in many ways cling to halfling racial stereotypes (skills and feat choices, etc.<br /><br />And thus Wilkie Widebottom was born into the world, being sassy and throwing ki energy around.The Human Targethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18002445258419364816noreply@blogger.com